Awareness and Effects of Illicit Drugs Usage Among School Children

Purpose: Awareness of one`s environment is a key to prevention of societal vices, such as intake of illicit drug. Again, knowing the effect of such drug is also a right step in the right direction in terms of avoidance. However, often time, secondary school students engage in illicit drug intake without being aware of their environment and the effect of such illicit drugs. The purpose of this article is to ascertain the level of awareness and effects (physical, behavioral, and academic) of illicit drug intake among secondary school students. Materials and Methods: Descriptive survey study with a population of 415 and 208 sample size of secondary school students, using a self-structured 3-sectioned questionnaire and a-four (4) point rated 4, 3, 2 & 1 Likert scale were tools adopted for data collection. Whereas, descriptive and inferential statistics were methods of data analysis, using tables/percentages mean, percentages, frequency counts, standard deviation, and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Findings: Awareness of illicit drugs -Cut-off mean = 2.50; N = 198. Awareness on Determinants-Cut-off mean = 2.50; N = 198. health effects of illicit drugs- Cut-off mean = 2.50; N = 198. behavioral effects of illicit drugs. Negative academic performance effects of illicit- Cut-off mean = 2.50; N = 198. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice, and Policy: The study therefore, recommended that, the government should review and modify the policy on education to include evidence-based programs such as life skills training (LST) into the curriculum of secondary school students in Bayelsa state. This will complement the other intuition-based programs by creating their awareness on resistant skills against illicit drug use and help them build up these skills. (Key: < 2.50 = poor level, 2.50 = fair/ average level, > 2.50 = good level). Keywords: Awareness of Illicit Drugs, Illicit Drug Usage, Effects of Illicit Drug Usage